The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-09-25

reached. entered the Enclosure. by no means
IN attractive cemetery, and made my way to
lhe further side, where. hard by the wall. sur
rounded with iron fence, are the Carlyle
graves the father and mother, with the first wife
and two children to the left, Carlyle in the CEN
ter and his brother John to the right. The
graves are all alike, the headstones plain and
ionvent ional made of the local red sandstone,
and the turf above them fiat and somewhat I'M
tidy. The inscription on Carlyle's stone reads:
''HUMILITATE.
Here rests Thomas Carlyle,
Who was born at Ecclefechan 4th
December, 1875, and died at "a Cheyne Row
chelsea. London. Saturday. 9Th February, 1881"
The brothers grave is marked. "Here also
rests John Aitken Carlyle. III. D.. LII. D.
born at Ecclefechan and died at Dumfries. At
the foot Of the middle grave is little stone
marked 1T C.,"-and that is all 1 did not
know. or had forgotten it if ever did, that
Jane Welch not buried here, and 1 looked,
and looked in vain, for an indication of her pres
snce. TO relieve my ignorance | walked to the
church, where the sexton and his wife were en-
gagged with their morning chores, and was told
that the wife buried with the Welches. at
Haddingron. as they both expressed it. family
pride being too strong" Then I went back to
the lonely grave. ana leaned upon its railing and
moved me. All the toilsome, struggling years
at Craigenputtock, and in that dull, dark, mis-
cradle, shattered house in Cheyne Row that
had seen some weeks before. came
back to me, and the "Reminlscences,'
and the letters took on a new meaning in the
midst of these surroundings The soughing
breeze stirring so gently the leaves of the trees
that gave their friendly shade to the otherwise
barren field, was burdened with the
echoes of Carlyle's impotent "Ah
mes!" and il seemed a cruel thing that the Two
souls who never came together during life
were still sundered in death. 1t would have
been pleasant and gracious to see the name of
his bonnie Jane" linked with his own
In his last. long sleep. Although the day
was one of summers choicest there still seemed
TO be over the place the same chill and dreary
lonesomeness that February morning
when. beneath a winding sheet of snow. Froude,
and Lecky, and Tyndall committed the body
OF their master and friend to the grave with
eut ceremony, and amidst a crowd of idle and
eurious lookers-on. But as turned away, the in
scription took on q new. possibly unattended
meaning" Here rests Thomas Carlyle" Thank
God, that at last indeed. he does rest; and
the years and unfold, the world is
coming TO regard with increasing kindness the
Scotland. picked from the turf that wraps his
clay, IL a cherished souvenir of Carlyle's grave.
A few rods down the road. and short turn to
the right into the main street, really the one
street, of Ecclefechan. and you are in front of
the two-story. whitewashed, stone-and- plaster
house Of James Carlyle. 1t is really two houses
In one with a large archway between. giving
entrance into the backyard The two brothers
occupied the cottage at the time of Carlyles
birth. Those who have Harpers print of
Froude's biography will good picture OF
Ecclefechan and the birth place. Nearly a con-
bury has made little change anywhere.
The brook still runs in front Of the cottage.
and there is the same cold, hard Scotch tidiness
about the neghborhood as when CarIyles father
and uncle built and occupied the house It is
now owned by Carlyle's grand-nece, and into
the birth room have been sent from London q
mum Der of the articles of furniture from Chevne
row. An elderly Scotch woman and her husband !
now the occupants, using the lower story
for themselves. taking care of the two upper
rooms and showing them to visitors. The
chamber in which Carlyle was born has upon it's
floor the carpet from the Chelsea study. half
worn tapestry brussels, the round study
table and leather armchair. with large.
lard oil study lamp. and a lounge evidently
nome
ursd chintz. One of Mrs Carlyle's letters speaks
of her work fitting up this very lounge
There other and smaller articles from the
Carlyle menage in London-a tea pot and serv-
ice, and Mrs. Carlyles dressing-box, etc., etc.,
while on the mantel-shelf is a photograph of the
house, with asterisk under the window
OF this particular room, and note written by
Carlyle, saying: 1.-The room where / was born;
to the middle OF the arch was my fathers house
village of Ecclefechan, 4th Dec, 1875 T.
Carlyle chelsea. July 187Lp The articles Of
furniture are poor enough, and give a vivid idea
of the lack of and comfort. to say nothing
of luxury, in the Carlyle home even to the very
last Dean Stanley offered Westminster Abbey
burial place for Carlyle. but he had himself
determined before death where he to be laid
away, and however much his friends might have
desired il otherwise. they bound to bring
his body back to his early home And after
all, what q mockery it would have been to have
attempted to guild the struggles and poverty Of
his life with the trappiuGs of state mony and
q grave in the Abbeyf What satire it would
be to visit the home of Burns and see the cir
eumstances amid which his life was passed. and
then 60 to Westminster for his grave. and read
among the sculptures there the effort to atone
in death for the miseries of his hfe There is
enough of that already there.
On the pane of the window in the little bed
room off from the birth chamber, over the arch
way below, is scratched this verse by VIM.
Allan:
while Scotland's sons in every cline found,
Bearing the banner of their countrys fame,
So long will Sartor IS laurels be renowned,
And honest Scots revere his deafness fame.
The poetry is not good as the sentiment, aud
the sentiment is altogether too narrow. Carlyle
is not Scotland's 1t not alone Scots who
come to AYR and to Ecclefechan. The world is
the whispering gallery of their fame Better,
As Froude says at the close of the Life
I'm future years. in future centuries, stran-
gers will come from distant lands-from Amer
lea, from Australia, from New Zealand from
evsrv isle or continent where the English
language Is spoker-to see the house where Car
lyle was born. to see the green turf under which